Education is more than just what it takes to get through school and make it in the “real world”. Education is a way of life. The skills students learn throughout their careers from kindergarten and beyond affect the way they learn though the entirety of their lives. If we didn’t keep learning beyond school, where would the saying, “learn something new every day” come from? I’ve been through thirteen years of public education and seven years of fumbling through my undergraduate degree, and now I face my biggest challenge of a graduate degree while working sixty hours a week. Throughout the lifetime of schooling I’ve endured, I’ve have some amazing teachers and I’ve had some terrible teachers. The BEST teachers I’ve had are the teachers who seem to be a conundrum of contradictions. I love Star Wars and science fiction and I’ve studied ballet all my life. I can stand on my big toes, but I can’t help i if I can trip over air. Now that I’ve admitted this, what does the Millennium Falcon have to do with the way I teach? All this goes into my philosophy that no one is ever who they appear to be. I was bullied, and at times I was the bully. I failed as often as I passed and I realize now that in high school, it is completely impossible not to be judged by someone on some level or another. It took me a long time to realize that no one is ever who they appear to be, and if they are looked at one way when they walk in the door, they are never going to get the chance to be who they really are. I’m obstinately stubborn and brutally honest and I will never back down from a challenge. As a teacher, I feel it is my job is to teach students the skills to become a productive member of society. While that is my ultimate goal, at the moment I would settle for having them show up and stay awake while I’m speaking. I don’t feel that I can be an effective teacher without being an engaging and enigmatic teacher. Every forty minutes is another show for a new audience. If they aren’t into what I’m doing, they aren’t going to get into what I’m teaching. In world where everything that is entertaining can be obtained in the palm of their hands, I need to find ways to make Shakespeare seem relevant. I believe that the only expectations for students should be high ones. I believe that everyone has a right to learn, but if a student chooses not to exercise that right, don’t come crying to me. I believe that as a teacher, my students are going to love me and hate me, and sometimes it’s going to be in the same day. But ultimately my philosophy is that whether a student passes or fails, they will learn something from it all. It’s not going to be easy, because nothing ever is and it’s a good thing I don’t back down, because I can’t wait for the chance to go toe to toe with a student that won’t back down from the challenge either.
In assisting with explain this philosophy, from one English teacher to another, here is an example of motivated teaching.... Taylor Mali's poem, What Teachers Make
Framework of Education
My framework is a book and for an English teacher, this is pretty straight forward. I modeled my framework after the Danielson Rubric. I feel the spine and the binding of my book is the planning and preparation of my lessons, as well as professional development. If lessons are not well planned, they tend to fall apart. I feel like the classroom environment is very similar to the exposition of a story. If you cannot build a strong beginning, how is the rest going to follow? Classroom instruction is the point in the story where everyone is trying to figure out how things are going to come together. This is where the thinking and processing is going to happen, much like the climax of a story. I feel that resolution and assessment go hand in hand. This is where everyone wants to find out how it ends and was the story successful. Though professional development does not have a place in the story book, this is the background knowledge you bring with you to each and every story.
Breakdown of Categories and Subcategories
While all of these catergories can be linked back together, they all have specific qualities that separate them from one another. When it comes to breaking down the framework, this is how I feel I would best define each subcategory withing the categories:
Prep and Planning: Preparation and planning are the things the students don't see done day to day in the classroom, but without it teaching and learning cannot occur.
-Lesson Plans: Plans should be well designed and account for many of the possible scenarios that can occur during a lesson. The better planned a lesson is, the smoother a lesson can run for everyone involved. -Materials: Material do not need to be expensive or extensive, but knowing what materials are needed and having them ready is important. By having the materials ready and in place at the start of the lesson, cuts down on the amount of time that is taken away from lessons for these preparations. -Modifications: Teachers need to think on their feet. Even the best laid plans are going to have hiccups, but a teacher needs to know when a lesson isn't working and how to change things to make it work is an important aspect to being a sucessful teacher.
Professional Developement: Teachers use professional to better their methods for the classroom.
-District/Building Development: Faculty meetings, department meetings, conference days, etc. -State/National Educational Development: Familiarizing teachers with changing state standards for education and the learning trends from state to state.
Environment: The right teaching enivronment can foster better learning for all students.
-Classroom Environment: The classroom is where immediate learning takes place. Students in a classroom that creates an inviting and open environment for both teachers and students to collaborate in the learning process. -Building Environment: The school builing should be a safe place for students to come to for learning as well as social development. -Community Environment: A students community fosters their view of education and helps establish the things they feel is important when learning in school.
Instruction: Through different and varied modes of intruction, students can gain the most from their learning evironment.
-Direct Instruction: Teacher instructs the students in lecture, note-taking and otehr form of teacher directed instruction. -Creative Instruction: Students can work in mediums aside from traditional paper and pen. This can be as simple as crayons and colored pencils to creating digital videos using tchnology programs. -Collaborative Instruction: Students can work in groups to create their own learning. The teacher is the facilitator, but allows the students to figure their way through the lessons and learning. -Differentiated Instruction: Students can work at a pace and level that suits their specific learning needs.
Assessment: Assessment should be done to find out how students can learn and
-State Assessment: All students across the state are assessed in the same manner and on the same material so they can be measured as a whole and the individual can see where they rank compared to those around the state. (ELA, Regents exams, etc.)/ -Local Assessment: Assessments done in the school at a department or classroom level. (Final exams, unit tests, etc.) Summative: Teachers get an over arching view in black and white of what students know and what they don't . Students are then awarded a grade based on their acheivement. Formative: Teachers get an overarching view of students needs as they do small assignments (ticket out the door, thumbs up/down, etc.) just to see where a student is in relation to those students around them.
Philosophy of Education
Education is more than just what it takes to get through school and make it in the “real world”. Education is a way of life. The skills students learn throughout their careers from kindergarten and beyond affect the way they learn though the entirety of their lives. If we didn’t keep learning beyond school, where would the saying, “learn something new every day” come from?I’ve been through thirteen years of public education and seven years of fumbling through my undergraduate degree, and now I face my biggest challenge of a graduate degree while working sixty hours a week. Throughout the lifetime of schooling I’ve endured, I’ve have some amazing teachers and I’ve had some terrible teachers. The BEST teachers I’ve had are the teachers who seem to be a conundrum of contradictions. I love Star Wars and science fiction and I’ve studied ballet all my life. I can stand on my big toes, but I can’t help i if I can trip over air. Now that I’ve admitted this, what does the Millennium Falcon have to do with the way I teach? All this goes into my philosophy that no one is ever who they appear to be. I was bullied, and at times I was the bully. I failed as often as I passed and I realize now that in high school, it is completely impossible not to be judged by someone on some level or another. It took me a long time to realize that no one is ever who they appear to be, and if they are looked at one way when they walk in the door, they are never going to get the chance to be who they really are. I’m obstinately stubborn and brutally honest and I will never back down from a challenge. As a teacher, I feel it is my job is to teach students the skills to become a productive member of society. While that is my ultimate goal, at the moment I would settle for having them show up and stay awake while I’m speaking. I don’t feel that I can be an effective teacher without being an engaging and enigmatic teacher. Every forty minutes is another show for a new audience. If they aren’t into what I’m doing, they aren’t going to get into what I’m teaching. In world where everything that is entertaining can be obtained in the palm of their hands, I need to find ways to make Shakespeare seem relevant. I believe that the only expectations for students should be high ones. I believe that everyone has a right to learn, but if a student chooses not to exercise that right, don’t come crying to me. I believe that as a teacher, my students are going to love me and hate me, and sometimes it’s going to be in the same day. But ultimately my philosophy is that whether a student passes or fails, they will learn something from it all. It’s not going to be easy, because nothing ever is and it’s a good thing I don’t back down, because I can’t wait for the chance to go toe to toe with a student that won’t back down from the challenge either.
In assisting with explain this philosophy, from one English teacher to another, here is an example of motivated teaching....
Taylor Mali's poem, What Teachers Make
Framework of Education
My framework is a book and for an English teacher, this is pretty straight forward. I modeled my framework after the Danielson Rubric. I feel the spine and the binding of my book is the planning and preparation of my lessons, as well as professional development. If lessons are not well planned, they tend to fall apart. I feel like the classroom environment is very similar to the exposition of a story. If you cannot build a strong beginning, how is the rest going to follow? Classroom instruction is the point in the story where everyone is trying to figure out how things are going to come together. This is where the thinking and processing is going to happen, much like the climax of a story. I feel that resolution and assessment go hand in hand. This is where everyone wants to find out how it ends and was the story successful. Though professional development does not have a place in the story book, this is the background knowledge you bring with you to each and every story.Breakdown of Categories and Subcategories
While all of these catergories can be linked back together, they all have specific qualities that separate them from one another.When it comes to breaking down the framework, this is how I feel I would best define each subcategory withing the categories:
Prep and Planning: Preparation and planning are the things the students don't see done day to day in the classroom, but without it teaching and learning cannot occur.
-Lesson Plans: Plans should be well designed and account for many of the possible scenarios that can occur during a lesson. The better planned a lesson is, the smoother a lesson can run for everyone involved.-Materials: Material do not need to be expensive or extensive, but knowing what materials are needed and having them ready is important. By having the materials ready and in place at the start of the lesson, cuts down on the amount of time that is taken away from lessons for these preparations.
-Modifications: Teachers need to think on their feet. Even the best laid plans are going to have hiccups, but a teacher needs to know when a lesson isn't working and how to change things to make it work is an important aspect to being a sucessful teacher.
Professional Developement: Teachers use professional to better their methods for the classroom.
-District/Building Development: Faculty meetings, department meetings, conference days, etc.-State/National Educational Development: Familiarizing teachers with changing state standards for education and the learning trends from state to state.
Environment: The right teaching enivronment can foster better learning for all students.
-Classroom Environment: The classroom is where immediate learning takes place. Students in a classroom that creates an inviting and open environment for both teachers and students to collaborate in the learning process.-Building Environment: The school builing should be a safe place for students to come to for learning as well as social development.
-Community Environment: A students community fosters their view of education and helps establish the things they feel is important when learning in school.
Instruction: Through different and varied modes of intruction, students can gain the most from their learning evironment.
-Direct Instruction: Teacher instructs the students in lecture, note-taking and otehr form of teacher directed instruction.-Creative Instruction: Students can work in mediums aside from traditional paper and pen. This can be as simple as crayons and colored pencils to creating digital videos using tchnology programs.
-Collaborative Instruction: Students can work in groups to create their own learning. The teacher is the facilitator, but allows the students to figure their way through the lessons and learning.
-Differentiated Instruction: Students can work at a pace and level that suits their specific learning needs.
Assessment: Assessment should be done to find out how students can learn and
-State Assessment: All students across the state are assessed in the same manner and on the same material so they can be measured as a whole and the individual can see where they rank compared to those around the state. (ELA, Regents exams, etc.)/-Local Assessment: Assessments done in the school at a department or classroom level. (Final exams, unit tests, etc.)
Summative: Teachers get an over arching view in black and white of what students know and what they don't . Students are then awarded a grade based on their acheivement.
Formative: Teachers get an overarching view of students needs as they do small assignments (ticket out the door, thumbs up/down, etc.) just to see where a student is in relation to those students around them.